Optometrist

First time I’ve ever referenced a character from Oedipus Rex and a pupil-dilation drug in the same strip. Achievement unlocked!

This strip isn’t Mrs. Shoebox-approved, and it’s wordier than I would have liked, but I’m going with “better out than in” in this case, and hoping it finds its audience. I spent a long time trying to figure out how to build the strip around this doctor’s smugly-disapproving face, and if nothing else I think I gave him a voice that isn’t completely out of place.

MRS. SHOEBOX’S ASSESSMENT OF TODAY’S STRIP: Where…did this come from?MY RESPONSE TO MRS. SHOEBOX’S ASSESSMENT OF TODAY’S STRIP: I really don’t know.MRS SHOEBOX’S RESPONSE TO MY RESPONSE:*Words I really don’t want on my page, at least not in this quantity.*

In other news, summer’s over, my kid just started the fifth grade, and it’s starting to get to the point where it’s almost too cold in the morning to bike to work.

Discussion (9) ¬

I see. Ludington is actually Hera, and when he has twice stricken down her game, she causes him to join her in the playing of it, complying in the interest of fairness. No wonder he didn’t see that coming.
I’d have to have 20-12 vision to get the tropicamide line, though!

So Frame 3 is like my friend John, who would laud me for articulating the difference between his name and that of our other friend, (homophonic) Jon. Or is this some sort of weird variant on breaking the fourth wall, where the characters can read their own speech bubbles?

“This is quite funny! I always remind patients who complement me on my looks that I look quite a bit better in a semi dark room so I must be in the right profession! I was also impressed that he also knew what Tropicamide was!”